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B.C. landslide: body of one missing person found as search resumes (with video)

Four residents still missing; their chances of survival are dwindling

Morning mudslides have abated enough that search and rescue crews can enter Johnsons Landing and continue to look for four people still missing in two houses covered by debris from Thursday's landslide.

KASLO, B.C. - A body believed to be that of 60-year-old Valentine Webber has been recovered from the site of a landslide at Johnsons Landing, the BC Coroners Service announced late Sunday.

The body, found early Sunday afternoon, was under three metres of mud near the foundation of the Webber family home.

Webber, his two daughters Diana, 21, and Rachel, 17, and their neighbour Petra Frehse have been missing since the slide crashed down the mountainside Thursday morning, destroying three homes.

Earlier Sunday, authorities said at a press conference that search and rescue crews had located the foundation of the Webber family home, but were not sure when they would be able to start digging through the metres of debris to reach the building’s cellar.

They said the roughly 70 workers on site were also trying to locate Frehse’s home, which is fully covered by debris so hardened it is almost immovable by shovel.

“You can’t dig through that stuff by hand,” said Whitney Numan, who is with the Bulkley Valley Search and Rescue.

“People can walk on the debris field, it has [dried] that much, but we don’t know how much fluid is underneath. So if you bring a piece of equipment in, that might cause problems.”

Numan said the Webbers’ survival depended on whether they sought shelter in their basement and were protected from the debris. Only one excavator is on site and road access is still blocked to the tiny, mountainous hamlet, Numan said.

Bill Macpherson of the Central Kootenay Regional District said the slope of mud, trees and other debris must be reassessed each morning and deemed stable enough before rescue workers head back to the debris field.

But Macpherson said with thunderstorms and rain throughout the weekend, weather conditions are unstable and there’s a chance efforts will be called off if the site shows any sign of instability.

Macpherson said geotechnicians are on the scene to monitor the slide’s movements and make decisions regarding the safety of the operation as rescuers move through the debris.

“They’re doing a grid-style search and they’re focusing on the high-probability locations where they hope to find these people, using GPS, mapping and the best information from local residents,” he said.

The cabin of Frehse, a 64-year-old German retiree who had summered in the lakeside community for years, was situated above the Webbers’ and is still completely covered by debris, Numan said.

Forensic identification specialists have joined the search to photograph the scenes and recover evidence, said Sgt. Darryl Little, spokesman for the Kootenay Boundary Regional RCMP.

He said it isn’t known whether the Webbers and Frehse were in the same house at the time of Thursday’s slide, which ripped apart the Webber family home and sent sections of it 12 metres down the ridge and covered the cul-de-sac with up to five metres of debris.

Little said police are in regular contact with Lynn Migdal, mother of the two Webber women, who arrived in Kaslo over the weekend from Florida, and are trying to contact family members of Frehse via the German consulate in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, Macpherson said power was restored at about 2 p.m. Sunday to five houses south of the landslide area, where seven people defied an earlier evacuation notice and remained in their homes.

The Ministry of Forests said on the weekend that it had received an email from a Johnsons Landing resident the morning the slide occurred expressing concern about a mountainside creek, but the message was not opened until after the slide.

Spokesman David Crebo said an email exchange between alarmed hikers that morning was forwarded to the work email of a government hydrologist who was friends with a retiree in Johnsons Landing.

The hydrologist was out in the field and returned to the office around 11:30 a.m. to find the email.

In the email, a woman whose name was not released by the ministry, said she noticed “surges of chocolate-coloured water that came down Gar Creek,” each bringing down a significant number of logs and debris and causing a jam.

“As soon as the log jam formed, gravel began to be deposited behind it,” she said. “The entire level of the creekbed has now been raised at least [1.8 metres] in that area.”

The woman wrote later the whole creek was flowing over and down her driveway and noted that a friend with search and rescue experience told her to stay on high ground. Hours later, the mountainside gave way.

Crebo said any such signs should prompt residents to call 911 for immediate assistance.

However, a Central Kootenay Regional District notice to residents of Creston dated July 6 instructs them to phone 1-800-663-3456 if they notice waterways running dirty, excessive debris or breaches of creek or river banks.

Macpherson said a public notice still stands warning curious boaters to stay away from the lakefront portion of Johnsons Landing as more logs may come down. Authorities also asked aircraft to stay away from the area as they could interfere with communication between search and rescue crews.

On Sunday, Highway 93 near Fairmont Hot Springs in southeastern B.C. was closed after a mudslide. Heavy rain and a late snow melt have caused havoc across the Kootenays this summer, with flooding and mudslides as many rivers and lakes in the area reached a 40-year high.

Valentine Webber, shown with his daughter Rachel Webber in this undated photo, is believed to have perished in the Johnsons Landing mudslide. A male body was found Sunday near the basement foundation of a house. Webber's daughters, Rachel and Diana, as well as German tourist Petra Frehse, are still missing.

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